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Wow....I am coming up on my 40th here in October. I was out in the shop last night doing fret work and the constant leaning over....well.....worked me over. I was so stiff when I got up. My bench height (traditional) demands I sit to work on it. I'm 6ft.

I am seriously thinking of raising all the benches in my shop so that I can work at near chest level. Anyone else going thru this?

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

I'm not a tall person (5'11") and honestly, I HATE the "standard" height of desks, work benches, kitchen counter tops...

If and when I make myself a new bench it will be at 36-38" height and there will be room for a chair or stool (which I use now, less stress on the knees) to do tasks which don't require much downward force when performing.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

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I'm 57 and i know exactly what your talking about. I have the same problem when doing repeditive work. Sometimes i have to stop for awhile or my mussles will tightenup.I pay for it later if i don't.I doesn't matter if it's chest high or not .Chest high bench would just tighten different mussles.I did some perfling once chest high and had a mussle tighten in my upper back that was sore for days afterward.I didn't stop when i was hurting and just made it worst.Now i just walk away for awhile, then get back to it latter and find it much better.I hate to stop in the middle of something,but sometimes i have to or i pay for it.

I second the idea of some different hieghts. I mostly like benches that, while standing straight, I can put my forearms on the bench and my elbows form a right angle (maybe that's what Todd was saying too). Along with aiding the aging back, it gets things closer to the aging eyes too.

It also creates more room for storage underneath.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Snig, you realize that its all down hill after 35 don't you? The floor gets farther away and gravity gets stronger. But I digress.

To avoid moving like Quasi the next day, I built a simple raised platform that I can clamp it to the bench. I made it about 4" higher. It's 2.5' x 3.5'.

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Aoibeann

I'm turning over 60 in Jan. and have degenerative lower discs. My solution, other than prescribed happy pills, was to purchase a hydraulic high lift table cart from Harbor Freight ( item # 41145-3vga). It happens to be on sale now, (bummer), not when I bought it. I modified it a little- got rid of the handle and added a heavy work bench top with telescopic 2x4 legs to add stability (probably didn't need them). Now it adjusts from about 20" high to about 60" high and it can support a couple dancing, and it's portable. I find I use it as a standing desk almost as much as a work bench. Hope this gets your imagination going. Hesh, this would be great in your new shop, get ahead of the curve by learning from us olf-of'ers (old farts).

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Dean

I have two work benches built at different heights. The Stew Mac shop stand and couple different stools work very well to make the work fit my body. They all get lots of use. I try to break up tedious work with stretching and/or a little exercise session.

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Tom Krebs

Another vote for benches at different heights. I'm 1.84 m (6') and my ancient planing bench is really low, like 800 mm (32") perhaps, my other benches are around 1050 mm (42"). I have a beautiful art nouveau stool (dumpster find) that is the perfect height for sitting next to the high benches. Working in different positions, and not for too long in any of them, is key to avoiding fatigue.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Good idea Dean my friend and I am going to look into that.

Besides back issues, I have them too with benches that are too low, the older I get the more I can't see as well as I would like to........ My solution has been to keep cheap, store bought magnifier glasses on the benches that I need to see what I am doing. I'm at 2.0's now and climbing..........

Hesh dood, it's not that your eyes are getting worse it's that your arms are too short. You can't quite hold it far enough away to read without your glasses on right??



Darrin

Darrin buddy you nailed it! Not only are my arms getting shorter....... but I am no longer 5' - 10" any more either..... Whom ever invented gravity.......

I solved this problem with multi benches. If you plan your bench so that the working area is about navel height , you will find it more comfortable. Try it , It may surprise you.
john hall
blues creek guitars

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I have tall benches.

I have (2) 24x36 benches that are mid stomach height on me. I find these to be very comfortable to work at standing up. It allows me to get a lot of leverage on certain operations (like taping up bindings) and to be the perfect height on other things such as voicing a top or back. If you build one of these I find a full length tail vise to be soemthing very useful.

I also have a big bench that is standard height and I frequently set at that one when I do the small detail work.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

In my fairly small shop (9'x13'), I also have 2 working surface heights
The main bench height (middle & left) are 34". The right surface, along the windows, is 41" & is matched to the table heights for all the machines (tablesaw / router table / radial arm) to provide support.

This allows room for a stool under, right in front of a window (as well as room in the kneehole for a heavy tabletop jointer on a rollout cabinet. It all works pretty well

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Dave
Milton, ON

Jeff Miller gave the "Noden - Adjust-A-Bench" rave reviews in Fine Woodworking. (When I win the lottery) I am going to get myself one of these.

My bench was originally the same height as my table saw and used as an outfeed table. I have added about 6" to the height of it. I'm 6'2" and it's about right for me. I will be at the crest of "the hill" at 39 in a few months. You're only as old as ya feel!

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Brad Tucker

Here are the words I heard....

Naval...mid stomach....

Yeah....that's the ticket. Got some work to do folks.....gotta raise a bench...make a bench...actually make two benches...

...you all realize...this never ends....

Seriously though, I need to do some work in the shop to fix my bench height handicap and I was curious as to what others were doing. Thanks a bunch.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Same problem for me, too.

At work years ago, I got a really nice drafting table that has adjustable angle and height, when they were switching over to CAD. Massive thing, weighs 150 lbs or so. Silly me, I gave it to my wife to use in her fabric dying studio. I've just started negotiations to get it back. "But dear, it will save my back." "Well, what about mine?" "But you're so much younger." "But I have chronic back pain." "I spend so much more time in the shop." "Well, yuhh, that's 'cause I'm in the kitchen so much." Stares at me.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

as some of you know i am chronicaly disabled i have a horendous affliction called post thrombotic vein syndrome or post thrombotic limbs (in both legs).
this was caused by a series of episodes of deep vein thrombosis i had during 2004.
this illness basicaly means that my vasicular system in my lower body is badly damaged and will never repair itself (iallthough the blood will find new ways through).
A symptome of this is chronic unhealing leg ulcers that i have had for four years that are unbearably painfull.
At the age of 31 this is not a nice desease to have.

This means that i can not stand in one place for to long in case it causes a clot or somthing worse,and i cant lift stuff and i am basicaly in chronic pain 24 hours a day.

this is not good news when it comes to guitar making (or resawing wood or anything that i need to do on a day to day basis) so i have to bee real caerfull when working becouse if do stand in one spot fopr too long i cpould cause myself real damage.

even though i know this i still find that prefer to work standing.
even jobs that i could do sitting (like binding or carving braces)i still end up standing.

to get around this problem i keep a clock on my bench and i set an alarm to go off every hour.
in this way i can work for an hour then sit at my desk for an hour (awnsering emails and other mundane stuff).
the idea is to break up the day so that i am not standing in one spot for the whole day.

while i know that wood working is bad for me and i should take my time and take regular rests in reality i forget when i am enjoying myself and end up suffering for at the end of the day.

I think at he end of the day you have to get to a point where you know your limitations and try to work with them as best you can.

the point being that my system of 1 hour on 1 hour off works ok for me and can work for others in a simalar situation.

Another point is that you keep moving about as if you stand in one place too long as this can cuase bad circulation and even deep vein thrombosis.

if you are planing a top or something just make sure you keep your legs moving and work safely,

Joel.

Man....just when you think you got it bad....

Dude...I hope for ya. I know you weren't looking for that and instead contributing to the thread but I had to throw that in there.

Moving about quite a bit is something I have to do cuz my personality won't let me stand in one spot too long...

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Well I just turned 54 and I'm 5'4" tall but I have my bench at belt heigth or 34".(That's not much more then my belt size , back to the gym this week) I built it at a confortable heigth for me and it also works sitting on my draftsman chair. I also have had lower back problems for a while that comes and goes and you learn what to do and not what to do. Although I find myself knowing what not to do I still end up doing them from time to time and sometimes I get over and sometimes not but that's the way it goes sometimes. But for you almost 40 guys the one thing you need to know is to start streaching every day and do some kind of exercising weather it be walking or something that keeps you moving. Me, I like to run. I haven't been at the gym for a couple of months as I'm getting over my last back bout.
I haven't got my setup for cutting inlay as yet but it will probably have it's own area that will be made for sittng down at a heigth confortable for sawing and routing fret boards with good lighting. That's the other thing that's very important "Good Lighting". Hesh buddy, Get yourself a good pair of pregressive lens . I had bifocals for a while but I just got the progressives and it took about a week to get use to them but they are what you need for this work. You need to focus at different distances and they work well there. If your long vision is off too Then I'd look into Lasiks too. I had that too and I think it was worth every penny.